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Musical Monday: Wake up my mind…

Growing up in South Australia with all the horror of my brothers, their friends and mine threatened with the dreaded “lottery”… which could see them conscripted, at the age of 19, to go fight in Vietnam gave me a perspective which you can read about here.

Young people, at that time, gave voice to their opposition of government decisions which severely impacted on their lives through music and song. My children grew up to the sounds of “Songs of the Protest Era”and right now I can’t get one particular song out of my mind, given the way our Australian political situation is playing out right now.

12 thoughts on “Musical Monday: Wake up my mind…”

There are some fantastic records there Catherine. I’m sure I still have my copy of Barry McGuire.
It’s strange how some songs can drag the memories back and some refuse to be dislodged once in there.One of my favourites from back the ad which I still catch myself singing ( OK, croaking then) is another Country Joe and the Fish song.http://youtu.be/WrRlmeOhV2U I hope this doesn’t get stuck in your head.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx

Thanks for your comment Gallivanta… Happens that the Australian public voted in an incredibly right of right wing Government and now many are lamenting their actions whilst denying they ever voted the LNP in…
However, what brought this song spinning into my head again was more than that. It just saddens me to see the same old scenarios being played out again and again and despite all the anguish/ wringing of hands nothing ever changes. The latest is the horror of young Luke killed by his father after cricket practice, in a public place etc…
I worked in a Women’s Shelter back in the late 1970’s and absolutely nothing has changed. People wring their hands in horror and disbelief and so I keep saying… just “Wake Up Your Minds.” 😥

Absolutely. That was an horrific incident, and one does wonder how people can’t seem to change those old scenarios; to the extent of falling for the old ploys and nonsense and election promises of a very right wing Government. Happens here too.

Until I read this post, I had never realized that Australia sent soldiers to Vietnam, and that there were protests there similar to the ones in the US. One of the things I really like about blogging is how it helps us see things from the perspective of others who are geographically widely separated (and how often we discover more similarities than differences).

I agree 100% Sheryl how our blogging friendships help us see how very similar most of us are, despite the geographical difference, and especially to appreciate our differences from a personaql/ human perspective.
Forever etched in my mind will be the discussion on your blog re: my Miss Muffly/ your Grandmother’s reference, in her Diary of 100 years ago, to her purchase of “giggermerows”. Happened that, at that time, I’d just tracked down and met with two of my deceased mum’s elderly cousins. When I put the question to them they both cracked up laughing and said, in unision… “Bras Catherine!!!” 🙂

Vietnam took such a heavy toll on my generation. I lost a first cousin there. A very good friend lost his leg, another as a result of agent orange (they believe) had three deaf children. Now days we buy all sorts of things marked “made in Vietnam”. 58,000 Americans dead so I can go to JC Penny’s and buy a shirt from that country. Vietnam lost millions of life’s. War is the worst of many things that we humans do.

I had no idea that the lottery draft system was also instituted outside of the United States. It was the era of protests. Today, you dont hear the music that wakes up the mind, perhaps because no longer are 19 year olds being drafted by the lottery system is forced to go to war. It’s now a volunteer military service. However we need the music to wake up our mind. In America the song that came to mind that I grew up on was Marvin Gaye song titled “Whats going on” you can hear that you youtube. Thank your for sharing and remembering a time that should never be forgotten.